Debriefing
by SkycladFox
Summary: Frustrating missions, troublesome teammates, emotional conversations and casual nudity; just another day in the life of Star Fox.


Krystal and Katt left the hangar bay together, the fox lightly supporting the feline, who was limping a little and clutching a ragged patch of her burgundy flight suit high on her left side that was stained darker. They entered a small room with a tiled floor, metal walls and ceiling, a row of lockers to the left, a row of shower stalls and a rack of towels to the right, and two long benches in the middle.

Falco sat on one, staring moodily at nothing in particular, still clad in his bright red flight suit; he barely registered them. Fox stood near the showers, towelling his nude form dry, frustration writ large across his face; it melted into worry on noticing Katt. He hastened for a medkit while Krystal settled her on the opposite bench, helping her unzip her suit and ease it from her shoulders to pool around her waist.

Fox knelt before the feline. "I'm guessing you met some resistance."

"Securibots," Krystal answered, heading to the lockers at a nod from Katt. "At least a score of them."

Katt gingerly peeled off her tank top, revealing a patch of burnt and reddened fur and skin. "And not your entry-level models, either."

"We couldn't get close," Krystal chimed in, sliding her suit's zip down, a strip of soft, pale fur appearing. "They had aim to rival Falco."

The latter snorted at the floor. "As if. You're just lousy at keeping out of sight, _Pinky_."

Katt bristled. "We were scouting from a ruin more than five hundred _feet_ away and they _still_ pinged us." Her eyes narrowed. "And will you quit with the awkwardness, already? They're just breasts, you boob!"

Falco's head snapped up to fire a glare at her, but he said nothing.

Krystal, having just eased her shoulders from her flight suit, let it fall then stepped, placidly nude, to stand between them. "Ease it down a little, Katt. There's more going on, here. Falco, maybe if you stopped taking whatever's bothering you out on everyone and actually shared we could help you with it."

Falco groaned, gesturing to the vixen. "This. This is what's bothering me. All this touchy-feely, runnin' around bare-ass naked crap blue girl brought on board."

Fox, carefully cleaning and disinfecting Katt's burn, sighed. "Care to tell us _why_?"

Falco stared at him like he was crazy. "Because a pair of good-lookin' girls amblin' about in the buff makes it really damn hard to focus. And I don't want _anyone_ " – he glared at Krystal – "touchin' my feelings."

"You admit to having some, then?" The vixen smiled softly.

"I _knew_ he liked me!" Katt crowed, grinning triumphantly.

The falcon's beak clenched. "I ain't an android," he ground out, "and I _don't friggin' like you, Pinky_!" He surged to his feet, swept past Krystal to the hangar exit, calling over his shoulder as the doors closed. "Don't bother followin'!"

Krystal sagged, brushing a hand across her face. Her ears tweaked to the sound of approaching footsteps, then the pleasant sensation of a hand patting her back settled her. She turned to give Peppy a light hug and a kiss on the cheek, then headed to a shower stall. The hare sat next to Katt, squeezing her shoulder.

"Might be an idea to leave Falco alone for a while," he advised.

"He won't be coming back any time soon, anyway, if at all." Fox shook his head slowly, then sat back. "And done. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it looked. Take a shower, Katt, then I'll dress it."

"That's a relief." The feline smiled her thanks. "Could you look at my hip, quickly? Fell on it after I got shot."

"All right." Fox nodded. "Peppy, help her stand."

The hare provided a body for Katt to lean on, while Fox removed her flight suit and slid her plain grey briefs down her legs. Then he gently explored her hip with one hand, taking note of where she winced and how strongly, and the colour of the skin beneath the fur.

"Just a little bruised," he soon reported, standing up. "I can rub a bit of something on it, but it should fade pretty quickly regardless."

"Once I've showered." Katt hugged the vulpine firmly, pressed a kiss to the bridge of his muzzle, then headed to the stall next to Krystal's.

Fox took a moment to gather all the discarded clothing and drop it in the laundry chute, then returned to the bench, sitting facing the vixen and the cat. Peppy settled beside him, and together they watched the others wash themselves, water and fingers gliding through fur.

"You know, Falco was right about one thing," Fox commented after a while, with a warm smile.

Krystal cocked her head, and Katt's ears perked.

"You _are_ good-looking."

The feline beamed, while the vixen's ears coloured lightly.

"Glamour models, baby!" Katt posed coquettishly, batting her eyelids at the vulpine.

Fox laughed, shaking his head. "No, you're far too real for that."

The feline pouted, then giggled. "True. Too many scars and not quite enough in the chest."

Krystal regarded herself with a wryly critical eye, trailing a finger over her smaller nipple, the slight kink near the base of her tail, the thicker tuft of whiskers, the tiny scar that pulled her navel subtly out of shape, and the paler pads of her left foot. "And too many little quirks."

"Ah, but it's the quirks that lend character," Peppy noted, sagely. "And character is where the _real_ attraction lies."

"The hare speaks truth!" Katt proclaimed, turning off her shower and stepping out; collecting a towel from the rack she crossed to squeeze herself in between Fox and Peppy, drying herself briskly.

"Some salve for your hip?" the vulpine asked.

The feline shook her head. "Thanks, but it's not so bad, now."

"All right; just a burn dressing it is." Fox laid a pad over Katt's wound, the end of a length of bandage on top of that, got her to hold both in place, then lifted her breasts with one arm and with help from Peppy wound the cloth about her chest to make absolutely sure that the pad stayed put, tucking the bandage into itself at the back. "There."

Katt took stock a moment, and found the dressing comfortable, even if it did push her breasts up somewhat, so they were even perkier than normal. "That works. Much obliged." Flashing a grin, she shifted to sit sideways on Fox's lap, facing Peppy, her arms looped loosely about the vulpine's waist. "So when's dear little Slip joining us?"

Fox linked his hands on her hip, smiling. "Slippy should be waiting for us in the common room, if he's not lost in tinkering again."

"He's there," Krystal reported, with a wry grin, rubbing herself with a towel as she walked up. "And getting just a _tad_ impatient."

Katt giggled, then gave Fox a playful prod. "Then why're we dawdling, already?"

Fox barked a laugh. "Well, if you're in such a hurry..." One of his arms slid down her legs to hook under her knees, while the other moved up her back to her shoulders, and he stood, lifting her. "Let's get going!"

"Whoa!" Katt yelped, cackled, then gave him a pointed look. "You'd better take a _lot_ of care with me, McCloud."

Fox grinned puckishly as he carried her smoothly out. "And there was I planning to tie you into a ball and roll you to the common room."

"The _cheek_!" Katt's faux-outrage was impressive. She shouted to the others. "I don't know how you put up with him!"

"Take him to your quarters tonight and find out!" Krystal called back, her tail high and waving with amusement.

Peppy's brow rose. "What are you up to?"

"She's itching for intimacy," Krystal explained, simply, sympathy clear in her tone, "and Fox won't hesitate to give her as much as she needs, and more. I'm just...trying to help her see that."

"Ahh." Peppy nodded with a soft smile. "I see. But..." He held up one finger. "Why Fox, and not yourself? I don't doubt you'd be every bit as willing, and likely more interested."

Krystal put her towel and Katt's in the laundry chute. "Because I don't think _she_ 'd be interested in _me_."

Peppy's smile widened subtly. He got up, and offered an arm. "What makes you say that?"

The vixen looped hers around the hare's waist, lightly leaning against him. "Well, I've felt her attraction to Falco, and to Fox, and even a little to Slippy and you, but never once to me."

Peppy rested his hand on her hip, and they began to walk. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, especially with Katt."

"True," Krystal acquiesced. "I might give her a small hint, then; let her know she has options. Besides..." She flashed a grin. "I most certainly _am_ interested. She's attractive on many levels."

"And you've no issue with her being...?"

Now it was the vixen's turn to crook a brow. "What do you think?"

"Just wanted to be certain," Peppy clarified. "Katt's endured so much because of it."

"I know." Krystal nosed his cheek. "Which is why I want _her_ to know that Fox and I are willing. We don't care she was born with a different face, just that she's her true self now, and just as deserving of intimate attention as anyone else." She took a breath. "Sorry. I knew someone very like Katt on Cerinia, and things...didn't end well for them. I don't want that to happen to Katt."

Peppy kissed her forehead. "With friends like you, it won't."

"No." Krystal agreed. "It won't."

A moment later they entered the common room; a large space with a second door opposite leading to the crew quarters, and a selection of entertainments, most prominently a huge holo-screen with two sofas and two chairs arranged in a semi-circle facing it. Slippy, wearing just blue shorts, occupied one of the chairs, while Fox sat on a sofa petting the belly of Katt, who lay across his lap, purring contentedly.

Krystal hugged the toad and kissed the top of his head, getting a soft squeeze round the waist and a blushing smile in response, then joined the other vulpine and the feline, rubbing flanks with one and pillowing the second's head on her thighs. Peppy took up the other chair.

"So, what happened?" Slippy prompted, bulbous eyes agog. "Did you find anything?"

Katt recounted what she and Krystal had experienced, and added, "It doesn't seem likely they were just abandoned. They must have cost a fortune and a half."

"They sound like military-spec," Slippy analysed, "so I'd think at least three fortunes, if you could even find them for sale in the first place."

"If anyone could, Keyvas could," Fox opined. "And three fortunes was nothing to him." His brow furrowed. "Either he left the 'bots to guard something, or they're a trick. A trap. A distraction. The only problem with that theory is the outpost Falco and I went to was an empty shell, stripped down to the bare metal."

"What, _nothing_ left?" Katt asked, bemused.

"Not a damn thing, and we checked." Fox sighed. "Spent three hours going over every corner and finding only dust and echoes, which didn't help either of our moods. The only thing..." He shook his head. "Nah, it's probably nothing."

"Let us be the judge of that," Krystal suggested.

"All right, but..." Fox frowned. "It's hard to explain. There was a part of the outpost that was just a tangle of corridors with doors going off everywhere, but...but I could swear there was a gap, like...like a place where a room should have been but wasn't. Is that making sense?"

"I think so." Krystal sketched in the air with one hand. "A messy web of corridors, with rooms in all the spaces between strands except one, or so it seemed to you?"

Fox nodded vigorously. "Exactly!"

"Did you map the outpost?" Peppy enquired.

"Yes." McCloud contacted Rob. "Are the new scans in the system?"

" _Affirmative."_

"Then put them on the common room screen."

" _Bringing them up now."_

The display glowed to life, a large, complicated map coalescing on it.

"You really weren't kidding!" Katt's eyes widened. "Did they have any kind of plan, or just dug where they felt like it?"

"More like they had a plan, at first, but gave up on it," Krystal studied the image carefully. "Where did you think the gap was, Fox?"

"It was towards a back corner of the outpost, so top right, as we look at it. The bit that almost looks like a child's scribble."

Silence fell as they all examined the area intently. It was broken by a shout from Slippy.

"There!" He pointed eagerly.

"Where?" Katt asked, squinting.

The toad leapt up, ran to the screen, and jabbed a finger at a space in the middle of three corridors. "Right here! Ideal for a room, but not a single door, and it's the only one."

"I'm not crazy!" Fox cheered with a laugh. As Slippy headed back to his chair the vulpine snagged him, hugged him tightly enough to make him gasp, and pressed a firm kiss between his eyes. "Thanks, Slip!"

"M-my pleasure!" Slippy stuttered, worming away with a florid blush and retaking his seat. "S-so is it a hidden room, or just a random gap?"

"Impossible to say." Peppy rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. "A better question is: was Keyvas the kind of person to make a secret room?"

"Definitely." Fox was adamant. Then he sagged. "But he was _also_ the kind of person to guard something with far too many securibots."

Katt groaned. "So, what – we toss a coin?"

"It's unfortunate Keyvas got himself gunned down," Krystal mused.

"Yes, very inconsiderate," Katt drawled.

"I think we need to check both of them out," Peppy deliberated, "but we can't take on the securibots without Falco, and I'd suggest bringing in Fay and Miyu for that, as well, if they're willing."

"Agreed." Fox nodded. "And as we've no idea what Falco's doing, and Fay and Miyu can't reach us for at least a week, we might as well rest a while, and look into that possible secret room. Any objections?"

None came.

"Then dismissed." Fox lightly smacked Katt's belly like he was rapping a table; she glowered playfully at him.

Peppy pushed himself up. "I'll get a message to Fay and Miyu."

Slippy bounced to his feet. "And I'll check over the Arwings and the Cat's Paw."

Once they'd both left, Fox and Krystal focused on Katt, who appeared decidedly unwilling to vacate their laps.

"At the risk of sounding needy," she told them, "I could really do with some company. Intimate company. I was kinda hoping Falco would be interested, but..." Her face fell. "I guess he still can't quite forget who I used to be..."

Krystal stroked her brow. "I imagine the change was a shock to him."

"Naturally." Katt chuckled humourlessly. "I vanish for two whole years without a word, and when I return the boy he knew so long is gone, a girl standing in their place." Her voice quieted, regret lacing it. "I never managed to tell him, never found the right time, or the courage. Too scared of losing my only real friend."

Krystal laid a hand on one of the feline's breasts. "But you didn't."

"I did. True, he accepted me eventually, and we even joined the Hot Rodders together, but...he wouldn't let me in any more, wouldn't let me get close. That's why we parted ways, in the end. I've kept trying, over the years, but gotten nowhere. I found myself, but I lost _him_."

"Wrong." Fox's tone was quiet but fervent. "Do you know how much he talks about you? How often he asks about you? Oh, he acts like he doesn't really care but, believe me, he _does_. Whatever his issues are, they're not about you having _this_ " – he set a finger to her trim, mildly lopsided vulva – "instead of a penis. He knows this is the real you just as much as the rest of us."

Katt calmed, even smiled a little, most of her anxiety supplanted by curiosity. "Then what _is_ his issue?"

"He can't really handle emotions," Krystal stated, evenly. "Not his, or other people's. At least, that's my reading of him. I couldn't begin to guess why, beyond something happening in his early childhood, before he met you."

Katt's gaze turned distant. "You know, I think I have an inkling..."

Krystal put a finger to the feline's lips. "Keep it to yourself. It's none of our business. Just yours and Falco's."

"Agreed," Fox concurred. "The only thing _we_ want to know is: would you like either of us to be your 'intimate company'?"

Katt blinked, then her eyes began to sparkle. "You're both willing?"

"If you're interested," Krystal answered.

"Well, I'm not usually into girls," Katt admitted, then smirked. "But in your case I'm willing to make an exception."

Fox flashed a rueful grin. "I guess you've made your choice, then?"

Katt nodded. "Sorry, Fox, but I've long been curious what it would be like with another girl, and when an exotic blue-furred beauty gives me the chance to find out, I'm not about to say no!"

"Can't argue with that!" Fox laughed; he gently shifted the feline fully to the vixen's lap. "You two have fun. I'll go...do something." He got to his feet, and waved as he left.

Katt stroked Krystal's cheek, warmth filling her smile. "Thank you; for everything."

"My pleasure." The vixen kissed the side of her muzzle, then hooked her arms under the feline's knees and shoulders just as Fox had done and stood up holding her. "Now let's go attend to yours."

Katt laughed. "Hell of a day."


End file.
